Some of the examples that follow also fall under one or more Death Tropes. Most spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.
Cynicism Catalysts in Comic Books.
- 52: Black Adam's origin story features the deaths of his wife and children, sending him over the edge.
- ABC Warriors: Lara, the little girl who secretly rebuilt the battered robot paratrooper Mongrol. Her death, compounded with the electric torture that fully returned him to live, took such a toll on his psyche that he was left a single-mindedly violent monster who knows only rage and confusion. According to the narration, in his broken mind, he sees and hears Lara always, encouraging his quest for vengeance against the enemy forces that killed her.
- Amulet: Emily is humorless, serious, and cynical due to the trauma of being in the car accident in which her father died.
- Astro City: Charles and Royal Williams were a pair of innocent boys until the brutal death of their parents disillusioned them against society's ideals. Royal ended up a petty crook, believing he was justified in doing whatever was necessary to get by, while Charles ended up a cynical policeman skeptical and distrusting of all super-heroes.
- Batman: Although later comics establish that he had plenty of issues beforehand, getting half his face scorched off by acid thrown at him by a vengeful mobster was the inciting incident that turned noble and upstanding district attorney Harvey Dent into the cynical, nihilistic gangster Two-Face.
- Captain America: In Marvel Comics, the death of Bucky Barnes at the end of World War II served as a continual source of angst and self-flagellation for Captain America.
- Doctor Strange: Various retellings of Doctor Strange's origin story give him one to explain how he became Dr. Jerk. In the first version, he didn't have any real excuse; he was just an ass.
- The Flash: Captain Cold has always been, as the name implies, a cold-hearted, merciless SOB. He's become even more so since his younger sister, the Golden Glider, was murdered. In one issue, he tracks down, tortures, and murders her killer. A few panels later, he's at home, tears running down his face, saying: "Much as I hate it, my heart's not always cold."
- G.I. Joe: In the comics, Snake Eyes carries a picture of his twin sister with him during his service in Vietnam, as a good-luck charm. When he comes back home, he learns that his entire family has died in a car accident. And that's just the beginning for him...
- Green Lantern: In Green Lantern (1990) #155, before Kyle Rayner leaves Earth after being traumatized by the brutal hate crime inflicted on his gay assistant Terry, he tells his then-girlfriend Jade (Jennifer-Lynn Hayden, daughter of the first Green Lantern) about his insights into the human psyche during his time as Ion, and what they revealed to him about man's inhumanity to man:Kyle Rayner: Jen, I can't do this anymore.
Jen: Do what?
Kyle Rayner: Protect Earth. I've been thinking about something Brainwave said a few months back. About what drove him insane. He said that he had reached into the minds of millions, and all he found was hate. When I was Ion I felt it, too. Jen, there is good in this world, but it doesn't measure up to the bad. In the hearts of humanity, there is anger, there is rape, there is brutality... there is hate. It took this happening to Terry to... ...to break me. I can't help these people now. I don't want to. Earth will have to get by without me. - Madame Mirage: The titular character is revealed to be a semi-sentient hologram created by a vengeful young scientist who modeled it after her murdered older sister.
- The Punisher: All Vietnam Marine Corps veteran Frank Castle wanted to do was take a picnic in Central Park with his family. But then they happened upon a mob killing, the mobster killed his wife and kids before his eyes to prevent witnesses, and when he wasn't allowed to testify because the justice system was in the Mafia's hand, he (understandably) snapped and decided to take justice into his own hands... and thus, the Punisher was born.
- Supergirl: In Supergirl (2005) story arc Way of the World, Supergirl runs into Aftermath, a villain who used to believe heroes were real and bad things only happened to bad people until the first battle between Superman and Doomsday cost him his legs.Aftermath: Once upon a time the world was simple. There were heroes and there were villains and bad things only happened to bad people. And then Doomsday came. "Luckily", I survived the attack, but by then I'd come to realize— that sometimes the bad can even afflict the good. And that while we may believe in heroes, there really is no such thing.
- Ultimate X Men: Mystique was originally a believer in Xavier until she got a look at his "sick brain" (which may or may not have anything to do with him dumping her for Emma Frost).
- X-Men:
- Magneto's Cynicism Catalyst is the Holocaust and other tragic events. After he escaped Auschwitz, he got married to a Gypsy girl named Magda who also ran away from there, moved to Ukraine with her, and tried to continue living his life. Then his daughter Anya was killed by a mob and Magda left him after he killed them all. Even then, it was still several years (and other crap getting piled on him) before he went completely batshit.
- When Colossus' younger sister Illyana/Magik died of the Legacy Virus in Fatal Attractions, he went all gloomy and joined Magneto's side for a while.
- Y: The Last Man: Late in the series, it is revealed that Alter Tse'elon's whole military career and militarist attitude were caused by the accidental death of her (older) sister during a pro-Palestinian non-violent demonstration she was participating in.
- Zombies Christmas Carol: An infected horse biting Scrooge when he tried to help it nurtured his hate and evil, leading him to nearly doom the world. Notably, Scrooge lampshades how petty an event it really was after his reformation.
